Carl conrad schnitger



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OAR-L CONRAD SGHNITGER, OF BERLIN, GERMANY.

PROCESS OF PAlNTING IN OIL-COLORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 448,267, dated March 17, 1891. Application filed February 20, 1888. Serial No. 264,676. (No specimens.) Patented in Germany April 7, 1887,1V0. 423469- To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL CONRAD Sonnrr- GER, of Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia and German Empire, have invented a Process of Painting in Oil-Colors, of which the following is a specification, no patents being obtalned by me anywhere for this invention save in Germany under No. 412,469, dated April 7, 1887.

This invention relates to a new process of painting in oil-colors. A

Painting in oil-colors as practiced at pres ent requires for the completion of an oilpain ting several layers-of paint, one on top of the other. It is, moreover, requisite that each layer or coat be dry or hard before the succeeding layer is applied. In consequence of this there is a great waste of time connected with 011 painting.

The purpose of this invention hereinafter described is to save the time wasted by the drying and hardening of colors applied in the natural way.

My process consists in the preparation and application of oil-colors which can be quickly hardened by heating them a little.

The process of preparing the painting material is as follows: The coloring-matter is first mixed with one or all of the following substances, viz: carnauba-wax, palm-wax, treewax, and shellac. This mixture is then ground very fine and heated to a temperature of from 80 to 120 centigrade, so that the melts and thoroughly permeates the coloring-mat ter. After cooling, one of the binding mediums used for ordinary oil-colors-such as fat-oil, or a mixture of fat oil or mineral oil or lacquer or fat, or soft wax-is added, finely divided and thoroughly ground in. The proportions by weight, of the coloring-matter and hardening material 6. a, carnauba-wax, or palm-wax, or tree-wax, or shellac, or a mixture of these substances) depend upon the degree of hardness to be obtained by heating. Colors which are principally laid on with a brush should be as firm as tallow after hardening on the surface of the picture, and they require from about two per cent. to ten per cent. of the said hardening material, while colors which are to be worked upon with the spatula after the hardening of the paintin g will require a proportion of the hardening material varying from about ten per cent. to

thirty per cent. of the weight of the coloringmatter.

The process of applying the hardenable oil-colors obtained in the manner hereinabove described is as follows: The coating of hardenable-oil-color is laid on the surface of the picture in the same manner as in the case of ordinary oil-colors. Said hardenable colors, if left to themselves, keep moist and soft on the pallet and picture as long as the ordinary oil-colors, so that it is possible to paint with them in a moist state just as easily and continuously as with ordinary oil-colors; but when it is desired to harden a coating of color already applied, said coating of color is heated for a short time, varying from a few seconds to a few minutes and to a temperature of from 40 to 80 centigrade, and then allowed to cool completely. By this process the previously soft moist color passes into a hardened state, so that it cannot run off when in contact with the brush and can serve as a base upon which to lay the new coating. Thus the difference between my new process and that hitherto used in the painting art consists in this, the moist coating of paint can be hardened at once. This artificial hardening is not identical and must not be confused with the natural drying up of the colors. They require as much time to dry up after the artificial hardening as the colors in their unhard ened state or the ordinary oil-col0rsviz., a time varying from one to several days, according to the season of the year; but, owing to the high melting temperature and the great hardness of the substances used by me, the latter stiffen and harden when mixed, applied, and artificially heated as hcreinabove described, and become sulficiently firm to bear the immediate application of a new layer of oil-color.

It is a wellknown fact that the colors for oil-painting are not in a liquid state like water-colors, but must have a certain consistency when applied to the canvas. So the composition above described when heated until the wax melts and permeates the coloringqnatter, and then ground with a wellknown binding medium, is given that thin butter-like consistency requisite for painting purposes and which condition remains after the composition cools. The subsequent heating of the composition after its application to the canvas is not to again melt it but to harden it and so render it a more suitable ground for the next coat.

The method of painting in question here is not only quite different from the painting in oil-colors practiced hitherto, but also from the encaustic painting of the ancients, both in respect to the material and the elitect. The hardening substances used by me-carna-ubawax, palm-wax, tree-wax, and shellac-have never been used for encaustic colors, for they were unknown to the ancients. Again, the encaustic colors had to be heated in all cases, so that the shade (tint) desired and the requisite durability were both attained by the melting beeswax, whereas the colors described herein are oil-paints which may become perfectl y hard and lasting without being heated, and simply by the natural drying of the oil, and show the shade desired as soon as they are applied. Heating contributes merely to hasten the painting in this case, and is always used at a time when the binding medium of oil-paints is not dry, whereas in encaustic painting the substance used in painting must be quite dry before heating is begun.

What I claim is The method of painting in oil-colors which consists of, first, applying hardenable oil-colors, such as hereinabove specified, to the canvas in the usual manner, and, second, subjecting this layer or coating of paint so applied to the action of heat varying in temperature from 40 to 80 Centigrade in order to quickly harden said coating of paint and prepare it to receive the immediate application of a new coating, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

CARL CONRAD SCHNITGER.

Witnesses:

13. R01, W. BINDEWALD. 

